Gunnar Nordahl rewrote the goal scoring record books and in the process became a legend for AC Milan, Marco Jackson takes a look at the Swede’s astonishing career.
The winter transfer window is often viewed as a poor place to buy players; those that are available are often in high demand, and all the power is held by the selling clubs. In some quarters, a January transfer is viewed as a desperation buy, a last throw of the dice to remedy problems that teams have been living with over the previous months.
It was not always thus.
In early 1949, Il Grande Torino were running away with the Serie A title. The Rossoneri, languishing behind them, represented a force within the top ten but were without a title in 42 years – well before the days of Serie A.
With Hector Puricelli, Aurelio Santagostino and Riccardo Carapellese in attack, there were goals, but the Scudetto looked a long way away. Equally, the late 1940s were not a time that saw a great many foreign players in Italy. Those that came to Serie A tended to be from Central Europe or South America – indeed, Puricelli was a naturalised Uruguayan.
It was difficult to know where to bring players from; there had been no World Cup since 1938, there was no European Championship at that point, and the European Cup and Inter-City Fairs Cup were still half a decade away.
Instead, teams turned to the only competition that fit the bill – the Olympics. In the 1948 tournament in London, Italy had been eliminated 5-3 by Denmark – four goals scored by John Hansen and one by Johannes Ploger. By the start of the following season, both had been snapped up by Juventus.
Although Milan appeared to counter with the addition of Icelander Albert Gudmundsson, his nation had not featured in the Olympics, though he had been playing in France prior to the move. Gudmundsson was a qualified success for the Rossoneri, however, and played fourteen games before a knee injury looked to end his career.
Perhaps buoyed by this first foray into Northern Europe, sporting director Toni Busini was happy to return and, on 22nd January 1949, brought Gunnar Nordahl to the club.
Nordahl arrived with a similar pedigree to the Bianconeri’s Hansen. He had scored seven goals in the Olympic tournament as Sweden swept all before them. Even the Azzurri-conquering Denmark were vanquished 4-2, before they clinched gold by beating Yugoslavia.
The day after Nordahl arrived, Milan drew 1-1 at Atalanta, and remained in mid-table. However, he was to make his debut on January 27, in a game against Pro Patria that had been re-arranged from earlier in the month.
Within 50 minutes, he had opened his account, netting the second in a 3-2 win. He scored twice in a thrilling 4-4 derby draw a few weeks later and, despite playing just 15 games, ended the season on 16 goals – level with the tragic Torino captain Valentino Mazzola.
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Such a success did Nordahl prove that he was able to influence Busini’s decision to bring in another two Swedes; Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm, both arriving in Milan in the summer of 1949. Their story, as they developed into the famed ‘Gre-No-Li’ triumvirate, is well told but there are some numbers that are worth noting.
In 1948/49, Milan’s whole team combined for 83 goals. The year after, with Nordahl’s 35 and Gren and Liedholm bagging 18 each, they leapt to 118; a Serie A record. The Rossoneri still finished second to the other team in thrall to Scandinavia, as John Hansen’s 28 goals guided Juventus to the Scudetto.
When 1950/51 came around, Milan were not to be denied. A season long battle in the league with Inter was settled in favour of the red side of the city, and an similarly tight Capocannoniere saw Nordahl triumph over Hungarian Istvan Nyers. Milan had arrived.
Much changed with the success of Nordahl, who went on to become a record holder – top scoring in five separate seasons.
Milan became the club they had threatened to do; their conveyor belt of trophies beginning with that 1950/51 Scudetto. He also opened the door to the now traditional template of the Rossoneri looking abroad to solve their problems, often in bulk.
Two Englishmen arrived in the mid-1980s, three Dutchmen when they didn’t work out, and there was a sizeable Brazilian contingent in the early 2000s. Gre-No-Li blazed that trail.
Moreover, Nordahl, and John Hansen of Juventus, also alerted Serie A to the talent in Northern European football, and, after demonstrating they could succeed started a tidal wave of arrivals.
In 1948, there were three players from Scandinavia in Serie A. By 1951, there were 39. The initial flurry slowed, but as of 2015, almost 150 players have travelled from that corner of Europe to Italy’s top flight, as well as countless others in the leagues below.
It all began on the 22nd January 1949, when a 27-year-old Swede arrived in Milan.
